Help sought for gout sufferers: A historical look at the treatment of gout in the New Kingdom of Granada

Abstract

Introduction

During the colonial period, despite scarce knowledge and resources, doctors and apothecaries developed medical prescriptions mainly of vegetable origin for the management of multiple diseases, including gout.

Objective

To contextualise and describe the use of medical prescription in the early 19th century in the New Kingdom of Granada for the treatment of gout.

Material and methods

A documentary search of medical prescription was carried out in the Cipriano Rodríguez Santamaría Historical Archive of the Octavio Arizmendi Posada Library of the University of La Sabana. Subsequently, an open literature review was carried out in the ScienceDirect, ClinicalKey, and Scielo databases in English and Spanish.

Results

Pistacia lentiscus, the basis of the recipe described, has a high content of terpenes, tannins, flavonoids, and coumarins, which generate anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antibiotic, antiviral, and anti-atherogenic effects, among others.

Conclusion

Mastic, one of the components of these recipes, possesses anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, which could explain its relative efficacy in the treatment of gout in the 19th century.